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NEWPORT, Ky. — A 600-pound, 84-year-old Galapagos tortoise is making his way to a
Cincinnati-area attraction to star in a new exhibit.

The tortoise, known as Bravo, will be featured in “Turtle Canyon,” a Newport Aquarium exhibit
that is scheduled to open on March 22.

Bravo will be driven by van from a zoo in South Carolina in the next few weeks.

The tortoise was hatched in 1929 on the Ecuadorean island of Santa Cruz, and arrived in the U.S.
as part of the last group of tortoises exported from the Galapagos Islands.

The aquarium’s new exhibit will feature more than 14 turtle species spanning three
continents.

Also on display at Turtle Canyon will be a 6-month-old, 1.9-pound endangered loggerhead. The
female loggerhead hatched at Emerald Isle, N.C., and has been fostered by the Newport Aquarium
husbandry staff since late October.

“Only one in a thousand baby loggerhead sea turtles makes it to adulthood once they are hatched,
so this program is very important as a conservation initiative,” said Chris Pierson, aquarium
director of operations.